Life’s Knocks

Hello there. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster two weeks. Firstly, I am happy to say that the lodger has gone. It was a very unpleasant leaving. Some of my property was damaged beyond repair so I had to retain part of the deposit to replace the items. She was not happy. The text messages from her were frankly disgusting. They were offensive, threatening, and harassing. I did not respond to most of them but have them on my phone if I need to go to the police about her. I think the situation has been sorted but who knows?

Anyway, onwards, and upwards.

The room has been thoroughly cleaned and put back to viewing standards. It is such a nice room and I find it very distressing when lodgers don’t take care of it. As you can see from the photos below it is spacious, clean, and tastefully furnished. There is a working area, an armchair and a space to put a TV. Two sets of bedding and towels come with the room. There is a new mattress on the bed that has never been slept in.

The ad went up this morning and I have three people already coming to view the room this afternoon. I anticipate many more. I looked at how many people had registered needing a room in this area. There were 68 — and this does not count all the people looking on the site but not making a profile for themselves. I then looked at how many rooms like mine were available. There were three. It’s a landlord’s market it seems, and I will take my time carefully choosing this time.

It will be nice to get the whole situation sorted as soon as possible, especially as I am working overtime next week. The practice is not usually open on a Wednesday or a Saturday, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to move a day and a half worth of appointments so must open Wednesday and Saturday morning as a one-off to move the appointments to. I don’t mind, it’s only this once and the extra money will be handy at the end of the month.

I am also happy to report that I finished writing book sixteen. Coming in at 53,889 words it is book six in the Blackwood Family Saga. It took me exactly a month to write, format, and edit it. It then went to my formatter and proofreader to go through and fiddled with a couple of bits of formatting I couldn’t do myself. Her feedback is in. She loves it and couldn’t find anything wrong with it so the next step will be sending it to my beta readers to go through. The cover is being made and I’m looking at a launch date sometime in March. It’s been a year since my last book was published so I need to get another one out there.

In the meantime, I am booking more live events. My first one is at Laxfield Market on the 2^nd of March. If you’re in the area, why not come and say hello?

Speaking of events, my mum called me a couple of weeks ago and I asked if I would like to do a tabletop sale with her in her local village hall. She had a few things to try and sell but didn’t want to do it alone.

You can bring your books to sell on your half of the stall.

Yes, but I won’t sell any.

You might.

No, I won’t. It’ll be like that sale we did in Risby last Christmas. Full of grim-faced old people in dreary clothing, who looked at me as if I was speaking gibberish when I asked what they liked to read. Snapped I don’t read at me, then stomped off.

But it was only £2.50 for my share of the stall, and I could tell Mum wanted to do it, so I agreed.

I was late setting off due to misreading Mum’s text, but we were still able to park right outside the hall and it didn’t take us long to set up. Mum was right, she didn’t have much, and I’m so used to setting up a stall by now that I can do it in my sleep.

All around us were tables of other people’s tut. Big heaps of clothing, old pictures, knickknacks, books, glassware, you name it. The sale started at 10 and we were packing up by 11.30. Much to my surprise, I’d sold nine books in an hour. I was not expecting that. I think it’s because, in a sea of second-hand and used items, I was offering something brand new and shiny. I gift-wrapped a couple of books — one as a Valentine’s Day gift and one for a birthday. I was born in this village. People know me and they know my parents, so I think a couple bought to support me, which was lovely.

I took Mum home and had a quick coffee with my parents, then drove home and unloaded. I had offered to help set up the Love Your Local Author sale so barely had time to scoff down an apple and rush across to the hall where it was being held.

I heaved tables about, set up chairs, made helpful suggestions about layout and who should go where, did a bit of handholding, and then went for a brisk walk about town putting up posters and making sure all the promo was in the right locations. I walked home and found the lodger had moved most of her stuff out and had texted that she wasn’t coming back that night but would pop in Sunday to finish the cleaning. I went down to the room, thinking as it was such a nice afternoon, I’d open the window to start airing the room. I noticed all the dirty bedding and decided to put a load in to help speed up the process. And that’s when I discovered the damaged mattress and all hell let loose.

I won’t talk about it. It was horrible, as I have said.

Sunday, I cleaned the room myself. It needed taking apart, scrubbing, and putting back together again. I also gave the kitchen and bathroom a deep clean. I had offered to go and help clear away after the sale so wandered down at four. Helped finish packing up and assisted my friend back home with her trolley of books, collecting posters on the way.

We then went for a celebratory drink at the pub. After the weekend I’d had I felt I needed it. A drink turned into a takeaway back at theirs and it was there that my accident happened. We were sitting at the table outside, I stood up, my ankle collapsed underneath me, and I hit the patio. I went down like a ton of bricks. I landed on my head. Hard. The sound my skull made as it connected with the solid brick ground is something I will never forget. I lay there, stunned, convinced I had cracked my skull like a boiled egg. My friends helped me up. Weirdly, it didn’t hurt. My temple and brow bone were swollen and tender to the touch, but I thought I was fine. I finished dinner and then went home. I was cold and tired and sore, so I went straight to bed.

Monday morning, I awoke to a world of pain. My face was sore and very tender. I ached all over. My knuckle was bruised as was my shoulder, elbow, knee, and ankle. I dragged my sorry bag of bones out of bed and looked in the mirror. There was a massive bruise on my temple, my eyebrow was puffy and grazed, and a beautiful black eye beamed back at me from the mirror.

Now, a lot of people have told me that I should have gone to the hospital when it happened and maybe they’re right, I should have, but I thought I was okay Sunday evening and then I had to go to work on Monday and Tuesday. My word, they were two long days. I put on thick makeup and fixed my hair, so it fell over my eye. By the time I walked home on Tuesday, I was wobbly and exhausted, but I still had to get in the car and drive to the doctor to collect my prescription and then to the supermarket to collect my shopping. It was the last thing I felt like doing. But I needed food, so I did it and it was okay. I was home by 6.30 and at least it was done.

On Wednesday morning I ironed all the bedding belonging to the room which had been freshly laundered. I had a friend coming for lunch which I was looking forward to. We hadn’t seen each other since before Christmas as they had gone down with Covid so couldn’t come to our New Year party. We had settled on the 14^th of February as it was the first date, we were both free, then realised it was Valentine’s Day so decided to eat at mine instead of going out. Did not want to be sitting in a restaurant on Valentine’s Day. Someone might think we were a couple and try to sell us a rose. I had a pack of very posh Italian meatballs in a tomato and basil sauce in the freezer so had got those out. I’d bought a nice mixed salad and found a recipe for Italian potatoes roasted in breadcrumbs and parmesan that looked fabulous. We are all about the potatoes, my friend and I, so I knew she would appreciate them more than pasta.

Anyway, she arrived, we opened the prosecco and caught up on all the news. The potatoes were in the oven and smelled amazing. I went to slide the meatballs in and found a tray of black and charred lumps that had been a whole bag of potatoes. I had followed the recipe exactly. Were they salvageable? No, they weren’t. They were only fit to carbon-date rather than eat. I rummaged in the cupboard and found a pack of rigatoni pasta to cook instead, and lunch was delicious. My friend had bought a gorgeous passionfruit tiramisu for dessert.

On Friday I had the lock changed … I am not going to say any more about that. Friends called round to do it and then we sat in the garden for a couple of hours drinking wine and coffee and chatting. It was a lovely Spring-like day. After they’d gone, I decided to treat myself to fish and chips for dinner.

And now it’s Saturday. I put up the ad for the room this morning and so far, have had a lot of responses. Two people have already been to view the room, one of which I liked very much, and there are more viewings lined up for this afternoon and over the next few days.

I am heartened by how good the response has been so far. I don’t think it will take very long to find another lodger.

It’s a short blog this time. There is so much I could say, but it’s probably best I don’t. This whole experience has left me sick to the stomach and shocked at how badly people can behave. I want it to be over. I’m tired of it now. Tired of being made to feel like the villain when I have done absolutely nothing wrong. Tired that the irresponsible actions of one person are being twisted to make her claim to be the victim. Oh well, onwards and upwards.

Hopefully, next time we talk I will be in a better place emotionally. Right now, I’m feeling a bit vulnerable and emotionally drained — not to mention looking like I’ve taken up cage fighting as a hobby.

Take care of yourselves.

Julia Blake